The Kennedy Doctrine refers to foreign policy initiatives of the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, towards Latin America during his term in office between 1961 and 1963. JFK redirects here. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

In his Inaugural address on January 20, 1961, President Kennedy presented the American public with a blueprint upon which the future foreign policy initiatives of his administration would later follow and come to represent. In this Address, Kennedy warned “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”¹ He also called upon the public to assist in “a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.”¹ It is in this address that one begins to see the Cold War, us-versus-them mentality that came to dominate the Kennedy administration. An inauguration is a ceremony of formal investiture whereby an individual assumes an office or position of authority. ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year - i. ... The Cold War ( 1947- 1991) was the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between groups of nations practicing different ideologies and political systems. ...

A dominant premise during the Kennedy years was the need to contain communism at any cost. In this Cold War environment, Kennedy’s “calls for military strength and unity in the struggle against communism were balanced with hopes for disarmament and global cooperation.”² Another common theme in Kennedy’s foreign policy was the belief that because the United States had the ability and power to control events in the international system, they should. Kennedy expressed this idea in his address when he stated, “In the long history of the world only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom from its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”¹ Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a social and economic system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system. ...

The Kennedy Doctrine was essentially an expansion of the foreign policy prerogatives of the previous administrations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman. The foreign policies of these presidents all revolved around the threat of communism and the means by which the United States would attempt to contain the spread of it. The Truman Doctrine focused on the containment of communism by providing assistance to countries resisting communism in Europe while the Eisenhower Doctrine was focused upon providing both military and economic assistance to nations resisting communism in the Middle East and by increasing the flow of trade from the United States into Latin America. The Kennedy Doctrine was based on these same objectives but was more concerned with the spread of communism and Soviet influence in Latin America following the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power under Eisenhower during the 1950s. Order: 34th President Vice President: Richard Nixon Term of office: January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 Preceded by: Harry S. Truman Succeeded by: John F. Kennedy Date of birth: October 14, 1890 Place of birth: Denison, Texas Date of death: March 28, 1969 Place of death: Washington, D.C. First... Harry S. Truman - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. ... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... The Eisenhower Doctrine, given in a message to Congress on January 5, 1957 stated the United States would use armed forces upon request in response to imminent or actual aggression from Communist forces in the Middle East. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s. ... Cuban President Fidel Castro waves the Cuban flag during May Day celebrations, 2005 Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926), has led Cuba since 1959, when, leading the 26th of July Movement, he overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista. ...

In his inaugural address, Kennedy talks of an alliance for progress with countries in Latin America. In his Alliance for Progress address for Latin American Diplomats and Members of Congress on March 13th 1961 he expanded on his promises from his inaugural speech. “I have called on all the people of the hemisphere to join in a new Alliance for Progress – alianza para Progresso – a vast cooperative effort, unparalleled in magnitude and nobility of purpose, to satisfy the basic needs of the American people for homes, work and land, health and schools – techo, trabajo y tierra, salud y escuela.”³ The Alliance for Progress (Alianza para el Progreso) initiated by President John Kennedy in 1961 aimed to establish economic cooperation between North and South America. ...

In the address, Kennedy reaffirmed the United State’s pledge of coming to the defense of any nation whose independence was endangered, promised to increase the food-for-peace emergency program and to provide economic aid to nations in need. He requested that Latin American countries to promote social change within their boarders and called upon all American nations to move towards increased economic integration. “To achieve this goal political freedom must accompany material progress. Our Alliance for Progress is an alliance of free governments – and it must work to eliminate tyranny from a hemisphere in which it has no rightful place. Therefore let us express our special friendship to the people of Cuba and the Dominican Republic – and the hope they will soon rejoin the society of free men, uniting with us in our common effort.”³

Many have questioned whether Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, and the foreign policy stemming from the vision he expressed in it “describes an appropriate, rational, and prudent role for the United States in the world; whether it is an outline for an era of negotiation and accommodation and friendship; or whether it is a prescription for an untenable globalism, leading inevitably to increased areas of conflict, to a heightening of the arms race, and to American concern with and involvement, to one degree or another, in the affairs of almost every country in the world.”⁴ While this is an issue that still fuels debate today, it remains clear that Kennedy was deeply involved and committed to every aspect of the foreign policy under his administration. In an interview with the President, William Averell Harriman, a man who served in several posts under J.F.K., noted "President Kennedy was the first President, that I know of, who was really his own secretary of state. He dealt with every aspect of foreign policy, and he knew about everything that was going on."⁵ William Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986) was a Governor of New York. ...

Some of the most notable events that stemmed from tenants of JFK’s foreign policy initiatives in regards to Latin America and the spread of communism were:

• The Bay of Pigs Invasion, April 17, 1961
• Increase of U.S. involvement in Vietnam War, 1962
• Cuban Missile Crisis, October, 1962
• Ratification of Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, July, 1963

“Like all leaders, John Kennedy made mistakes, but he was always optimistic about the future.”⁶

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (also known in Cuba as La Playa Girón after a beach in the Bay of Pigs where the landing took place) was a United States planned and funded landing by armed Cuban exiles on southern Cuba in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban socialist government... The Vietnam War was a war fought roughly from 1957 to 1975 after the North Vietnamese government secretly agreed to begin involvement in South Vietnam. ... The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. ...

Notes

1. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy. Available Online at: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/kennedy.htm
2. Viotti, Paul R , American Foreign Policy and National Security: A Documentary Record (Pearson Prentice Hall: 2005), 222.
3. Modern History Sourcebook. President John F. Kennedy: On the Alliance for Progress, 1961. Available Online at: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1961kennedy-afp1.html
4. Fitzsimons, Louise. The Kennedy Doctrine (New York: Random House, 1972), 10.
5. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Oral History Collection. Available Online at: http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Aph/KennedyOral.asp
6. Weidman, Lisa Menéndez. A Biography of John F. Kennedy: The 35th President of the United States. Available Online at The JFK Library: http://www.jfklibrary.org/jfk_biography.html

External Links

• Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/kennedy.htm)
• John F. Kennedy Library and Museum (http://www.jfklibrary.org/)